Dr Bill Pritchard

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Biographical details

Bill Pritchard is an Associate Professor in Human Geography specialising in agriculture, food and rural places. His is interested in the ways that global and local processes are transforming places, industries and people's lives. He remains a skeptical internationalist - believing in the promise of a better world but frustrated by the obstacles that beset this objective.

Bill has undertaken research for a number of leading national and international organisations, and his work is cited widely within professional circles. He is an author of three books, an editor of a further four, and has published around 50 refereed articles and chapters.He has been engaged in several major consulting research projects, and given over 50 conference presentations.

Dr Pritchard carries with him a geographer's passion to understand our world. His philosophy is to eschew abstract modelling in favour of approaches with seek to appraise how places and economies are forged through the cluttter of geographical circumstance, historical process, and institutional practice. In his own life, by way of contrast, he tries to avoid as much clutter as possible with interests in bush and urban walking, falling asleep on beaches on warm days, kayaking on Sydney Harbour, and taking an entire day to read the paper.

Research interests

Over the course of his career, Bill's research interests in agriculture, food and rural places have been channeled through a series of research foci and activities.

Global food security. Bill is a frequent commentator in the media and an invited speaker to public forums on this topic. In May 2013, Bill gave a talk to TEDx Sydney talk at the Sydney Opera House on global food security (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJc0tYNGcWo). In 2011, He was an invited panellist to the World Bank Praxis Discussion forum “Food Security” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j7D2NUFpn4. In November 2013 he was an invited expert on food security to the Commonwealth People's Forum during CHOGM, Sri Lanka.

Global value chains. Bill has a long-standing research interest in the geographical implications of different ways in which agri-food products are connected to consumers (from paddock to plate) through global value chains. In Australia, his work in this area has involved studies of the wine, beef and dairy sectors. Internationally, it has covered the tea and coffee sectors, and this latter work (conducted with Jeff Neilson) led to the publication of Value Chain Struggles: Institutions and Governance in the Plantation Districts of South India (Blackwell, 2009) (http://au.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405173939.html). He was also a global reviewer of UNCTAD's 2009 World Investment Report (Transnational Corporations, Agricultural Production and Development).

Regional change in Australia. He is co-author (with Andrew Beer, Alaric Maude) of Developing Australia's Regions: Theory and Practice (UNSW Press, 2003) and was lead investigator in the four-year project The Aggregation and Fragmentation of Rural Land in Australia (https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/items/12-038). Over the years he has given numerous presentations to Regional Development Organisations and other bodies.

The global tomato! Yes indeed. Between 2000-04, Bill (with David Burch, of the Griffith University) undertook a study which sought to understand the processes of globalisation in the food industry by examining the international restructuring of trade and production arrangements in the processing tomato industry. The ensuing book - Agri-food Restructuring in Perspective: International Restructuring in the Processing Tomato Industry (Ashgate, 2003) - was described by one reviewer in the following terms: “Pritchard and Burch’s contribution [in this book] to this research field now suggests a need to recast the conceptual terminology of commodity analyses” Le Heron, R. (2004). Assembling the world tomato industry: trialling truth trails. Journal of Rural Studies(20), pp. 383–85.

Associations

Bill is an active member and former convenor of the Agri-Food Research Network (http://afrn.org.au/), and from 2007 - 2011 was a member of the Australian Research Council Research Network on Spatially Integrated Social Sciences. He is also a member of the Institute of Australian Geographers.

Bill Pritchard is on the executive committees for the International Geographical Union's Commission on the Dynamics of Economic Space, and the International Sociological Association's Research Committee on the Sociology of Food and Agriculture.

2008

Farming at the forest frontier; Neilson J, Pritchard W; Australian Agency for International Development (AUSAID)/Australia Indonesia Governance Research Partnership.

2007

The Productive and Environmental Implications of Farm Consolidation and Fragmentation; Pritchard W, Neave M; Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation/Environment and Farm Management Program (EFM).

2006

Indian agricluture in the 21st century: The political economy of market reforms; Pritchard W, Connell J, Neilson J; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP).

2004

Traceability as a mode of ordering: implications for developing countries participation in international agrofood - APD (Neilson); Neilson J, Pritchard W; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP).

2001

The spatial construction of food commodity chains in the Asia Pacific; Pritchard W, Fagan R, Burch D; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Large Research Grants (LRG).

Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (2007). The Final Frontier? The Global roll-out of the Retail Revolution in India. In David Burch & Geoffrey Lawrence (Eds.), Supermarkets and Agri-food Supply Chains:Transformations in the Production and Consumption of Foods, (pp. 219-242). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Neilson, J., Pritchard, W., Wai-Chung, H. (2014). Global value chains and global production networks in the changing international political economy: An introduction. Review of International Political Economy, 21(1), 1-8. [More Information]

Pritchard, W. (2014). The problem of higher food prices for impoverished people in the rural global South. Australian Geographer, 45(4), 419-427. [More Information]

Rammohan, A., Pritchard, W. (2014). The Role of Landholding as a Determinant of Food
and Nutrition Insecurity in Rural Myanmar. World Development, 64, 597-608. [More Information]

Weller, S., Smith, E., Pritchard, W. (2013). Family or Enterprise? What shapes the business structures of Australian farming? Australian Geographer, 44(2), 129-142. [More Information]

Pritchard, W., Valli, M. (2012). What kind of a market for what kind of water? Geographical perspectives on Murray-Darling water reform. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 168, 51-62. [More Information]

Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (2010). Fairness and ethicality in their place: The regional dynamics of fair trade and ethical sourcing agendas in the plantation districts of South India. Environment and Planning A: international journal of urban and regional research, 42(8), 1833-1851. [More Information]

Pritchard, W. (2009). The long hangover from the second food regime: a world-historical interpretation of the collapse of the WTO Doha Round. Agriculture and Human Values, 26(4), 297-307. [More Information]

Pritchard, W. (2006). More than a 'blip': The changed character of Southeast Asia’s engagement with the global economy in the post-1997 period. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 47(3), 311-326.

Godwin, M., Pritchard, W. (2006). Self-helping from the hand that feeds? Evaluating the 'deserving community' ethic of governance in North East Tasmania. Rural Society: the journal of research into rural and regional social issues in Australia, 16(3), 329-340.

Pritchard, W. (2006). The political construction of free trade visions: the geo-politics and geo-economics of Australian beef exporting. Agriculture and Human Values, 23(1), 37-50.

Pritchard, W. (2005). How the rule of the market rules the law: the political economy of WTO dispute settlement as evidenced in the US-Lamb Meat decision. Review of International Political Economy, 12(5), 776-803.

Pritchard, W. (2005). Implementing and maintaining neoliberal agriculture in australia part ii strategies for securing neoliberalism. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 13(2), 1-14.

Pritchard, W. (2005). Implementing and Maintaining Neoliberal Agriculture in Australia: Part 1 - Constructing Neoliberalism as a Vision for Agricultural Policy. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 13(1), 1-12.

Herbert, B., Pritchard, W. (2004). The Changing Geographies Of Power And Control In Rural Service Provision: Recent Restructuring Of The Australian Tractor Dealership System. Australian Geographical Studies, 42(1), 18-33.

Pritchard, W., Curtis, R. (2004). The Political Construction Of Agro-Food Liberalization In East Asia: Lessons From The Restructuring Of Japanese Dairy Provisioning. Economic Geography, 80(2), 173-190.

Pritchard, W. (2001). Transnationality Matters: Related Party International Transactions in the Australian Food Industry. Journal of Australian Political Economy, 48, 23-45.

Neilson, J., Pritchard, W., Wai-Chung, H. (2014). Global value chains and global production networks in the changing international political economy: An introduction. Review of International Political Economy, 21(1), 1-8. [More Information]

Pritchard, W. (2014). The problem of higher food prices for impoverished people in the rural global South. Australian Geographer, 45(4), 419-427. [More Information]

Rammohan, A., Pritchard, W. (2014). The Role of Landholding as a Determinant of Food
and Nutrition Insecurity in Rural Myanmar. World Development, 64, 597-608. [More Information]

Pritchard, W., Valli, M. (2012). What kind of a market for what kind of water? Geographical perspectives on Murray-Darling water reform. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 168, 51-62. [More Information]

Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (2010). Fairness and ethicality in their place: The regional dynamics of fair trade and ethical sourcing agendas in the plantation districts of South India. Environment and Planning A: international journal of urban and regional research, 42(8), 1833-1851. [More Information]

Pritchard, W. (2009). The long hangover from the second food regime: a world-historical interpretation of the collapse of the WTO Doha Round. Agriculture and Human Values, 26(4), 297-307. [More Information]

Neilson, J., Pritchard, W. (2007). The Final Frontier? The Global roll-out of the Retail Revolution in India. In David Burch & Geoffrey Lawrence (Eds.), Supermarkets and Agri-food Supply Chains:Transformations in the Production and Consumption of Foods, (pp. 219-242). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Pritchard, W. (2006). Japanese Official Development Assistance in South-East Asia.

Pritchard, W. (2006). More than a 'blip': The changed character of Southeast Asia’s engagement with the global economy in the post-1997 period. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 47(3), 311-326.

Godwin, M., Pritchard, W. (2006). Self-helping from the hand that feeds? Evaluating the 'deserving community' ethic of governance in North East Tasmania. Rural Society: the journal of research into rural and regional social issues in Australia, 16(3), 329-340.

Pritchard, W. (2006). The political construction of free trade visions: the geo-politics and geo-economics of Australian beef exporting. Agriculture and Human Values, 23(1), 37-50.

Pritchard, W. (2005). How the rule of the market rules the law: the political economy of WTO dispute settlement as evidenced in the US-Lamb Meat decision. Review of International Political Economy, 12(5), 776-803.

Pritchard, W. (2005). Implementing and maintaining neoliberal agriculture in australia part ii strategies for securing neoliberalism. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 13(2), 1-14.

Pritchard, W. (2005). Implementing and Maintaining Neoliberal Agriculture in Australia: Part 1 - Constructing Neoliberalism as a Vision for Agricultural Policy. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 13(1), 1-12.

Herbert, B., Pritchard, W. (2004). The Changing Geographies Of Power And Control In Rural Service Provision: Recent Restructuring Of The Australian Tractor Dealership System. Australian Geographical Studies, 42(1), 18-33.

Pritchard, W., Curtis, R. (2004). The Political Construction Of Agro-Food Liberalization In East Asia: Lessons From The Restructuring Of Japanese Dairy Provisioning. Economic Geography, 80(2), 173-190.